A New Garage!!!

So after several days and countless hours of blood, sweat, and more sweat, the garage is finally finished. Now instead of being the proud owner of a dark and dirty garbage heap in the back of the house, I am now the proud owner of a functioning music practice room! Should be tons of fun. Or else in the words of Jake Blues, "We're gettin' the band back together!"
Anyway, in honor of finishing this huge project, I've decided to post some of the "highlights" from the endeavor.
10. Providing sufficient electric power to a room configured for a single light bulb.
9. Finding a rat skeleton from what appears to be the 1980s.
8. Lugging 1600 sq. ft. of carpeting and padding from Century City in my Honda Civic. Yes, it took two trips.
7. Slicing my fingers multiple times on a carpet blade. Ouch!!!
6. Manipulating how in the world to attach a carpet to a cement floor! (It turned out that double-sided carpet tape was the only thing that did the trick).
5. Over 400 screws put into place by a low-powered, often dying, battery operated drill.
4. Having a garage door that now takes actual muscles to lift.
3. Spending three hours worrying about how to crack a padlock which locked the door open, only to realize that simply screwing off the hinge did the trick completely.
2. Taking two showers every day during construction
1. Having an amazing looking, amazing sounding bona-fide practice room (without ticking off the neighbors)!!!

A Top Ten List (of sorts)

As some of you know, I'm in the middle of a project that consists of transforming my dirty, dusty, and useless garage into a useful music practice room! I'm about 70% finished now and in honor of a hard day's work, I decided to post a list of THE ONLY TEN THINGS THAT COULD POSSIBLY WORSE THAN INSTALLING CARPET VERTICALLY:


10. Root canals
9. The LAUSD bureaucracy
8. The LAUSD payroll system
7. Getting pulled over by an Oregon State trooper who thought it was hilarious that a California driver performed a "California Stop".
6. Getting sweaty simply by walking outside
5. Being held in limbo by the LA County Superior Court wondering if I'll actually have to serve Jury Duty.
4. Having my lofty goals of eating healthier shattered. (Hey, at least installing carpeting is giving me tons of exercise though!)
3. Band members who get married and move 3 time zones away.
2. A month (yes, an entire month) of professional development before any student shows up in September.
1. And finally, the number one thing worse than installing vertical carpeting.....[drumroll....]: Knowing that someday when I move out, all of it's got to come down :(

Summer Freedom

So this is what it feels like to be finished with school! My friend Kent finished his first year in L.A. Unified today with his 7th grade history students! We celebrated by going to eat at a wonderful deep dish pizza place called Masa (for those of you who live in L.A., definitely check this place out)! We then decided to go check out the new action flick Live Free or Die Hard, which was thoroughly silly, but a lot of fun, especially for a Friday night! Hopefully this weekend I'll get much more accomplished than I got done today!

Back in Los Angeles

After an amazing conference, I am back in Los Angeles! I'm looking forward to enjoying the rest of my summer, which finally feels as if it is truly beginning! I have to go back to Cochran in early August for professional development, so I've got a lot to cram into a small amount of time. Some things I'm looking forward to this summer are L.A. County Jury Duty, being a groomsman in my friend and colleague Rustum and Stephanie's wedding, and perhaps (I'm about 83% sure about this) road tripping the West Coast, with stops in San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver. However, on the more immediate horizon, tomorrow I get to celebrate with my friend Kent on completing his year at Carver Middle School in LAUSD!